Children amid the turmoil of war in Syria

Ghassan Khalil, 30, who fled his home in Marea, Syria, 12 days ago due to Syrian government shelling of his house, holds his sleeping son Mahmoud, 2, who suffers from fever, as they take refuge at the Bab Al-Salameh border crossing in hopes of entering one of the refugee camps in Turkey, near the Syrian town of Azaz, on Sept. 3.

Muhammed Muheisen / AP

A Syrian child stands next to rebel fighters checking a house that was damaged in bombing by government forces in Marea, on the outskirts of Aleppo, Syria, on Sept. 4.

AP reports: More than 100,000 Syrians sought refugee status during August in what the United Nations describes as an eye-popping escalation in the pace of departures since the hostilities began.

The August total accounts for more than 40 percent of the 234,368 Syrian refugees who, as of the last count on September 2, had fled for surrounding countries since the uprising began 17 months ago, the U.N. refugee agency said Tuesday. Full story